Cumulus Networks, the leading provider bringing web-scale networking to enterprise cloud, today at OpenStack Summit Sydney, announced the availability of Cumulus in the Cloud for OpenStack environments.

As the standard for both service providers and enterprises looking to build a cloud environment, over ⅓ of Cumulus Networks' customer base is already leveraging OpenStack. OpenStack offers a rich variety of components that can be combined to build a cost-efficient, tailored private or public cloud solution, while increasing operational efficiency. Now with Cumulus in the Cloud for OpenStack, a virtual test environment that provides a low-effort way to learn Cumulus Networks' technologies, operators have access to all the steps needed to develop fully functioning OpenStack environments.

Organizations of all sizes are increasingly dependent upon their applications and are evaluating ways to optimize application performance. Pre-production however, evaluating new IT infrastructure and developing a Proof of Concept (PoC) can be time consuming and expensive, especially for companies bound to restrictive systems from legacy vendors.

Cumulus in the Cloud drastically reduces the time and money required to test web-scale architecture solutions for OpenStack clouds by allowing application developers and network operators to test Cumulus Networks' technology at zero cost. It gives them the ability to:

Test configurations for a virtual proof of concept, using two racks with two dual-homed servers, connected with a leaf-spine network

Inspect their environment in real-time with NetQ, to identify and troubleshoot potential issues

Provide a framework for network automation

Integrate with OpenStack Horizon, a GUI based dashboard to request and deploy additional resources

"OpenStack has rapidly become the standard for both service providers and enterprises looking to build a cloud environment," said JR Rivers, Co-founder and CTO of Cumulus Networks. "However, transitioning OpenStack from proof-of-concept into production can challenge traditional network architecture. With Cumulus in the Cloud for OpenStack, customers can reap the benefits of web-scale for OpenStack, simplifying operations and delivering services at scale."

Cumulus Linux offers a completely open architecture that supports easy portability of most third party applications natively. OpenStack nodes are also all Linux, providing a single operational model to simplify and streamline provisioning and operations. By adopting a Linux networking model, customers have achieved operational efficiency and reduced their time to production by as much as 95%, while reducing their TCO by up to 60%.

"Before deploying Cumulus, we were looking to refresh our data center in a way that would enable our researchers to innovate more efficiently," said Steve Quenette, Deputy Director, Monash eResearch Centre. "At Monash University, we've been able to leverage a software-defined network solution that can support OpenStack, which was extremely important to us."